Monday, January 21, 2013

DIY Book of Textures (sensory book)

I am making this post because I couldn't find a tutorial ANYWHERE online. I visited my best friend a few weeks ago and her 3 year old had this book that her pre-school teachers made. Sawyer fell in LOVE with it, so I knew I had to make one for her.

It was fairly simple once I had all of the supplies. To make it you will need:

Different materials for texture. I used:
Silky-silk fabric
Leathery-leather scraps in the jewelry making section at hobby lobby
Bumpy-snakeskin scrapbook paper
Crinkly-plastic that I removed from the CD sleeves
Furry-fur in the craft section
Foamy-foam sheets
Scratchy-glittery foam sheet
Rough-cardboard scrapbooking sheet

I first (very carefully) removed the plastic from the CD sleeves. This was tedious because the paper rips easily.

Once I had the plastic removed, I made three holes on the side of all the sleeves. I then put reinforcement stickers over the holes.

Next I cut each texture to the size I needed to fit into the sleeve. I then put pieces of double sided tape on the back of the material and slid it into the sleeve. Then I taped the flap shut with clear packing tape.

After I had all of the sleeves finished, I put them together with the album rings. I printed a label to go in the front sleeve, and that was it! I went through and wrote in sharpie each texture. I wanted to print cute ones, but the space is pretty small so I just wrote them.

It's a HUGE hit! She has been playing with it for a few days now, and it's holding up well. I have gone back and reinforced some spots with more clear packing tape, but so far she's being pretty gentle with it!

I hope this helps anyone who wants to make one of these for their little one!